HOV lanes finally open on the QEW

With the Greater Toronto Area having one of the world’s longest commutes (an average of 80 minutes), weary travellers may welcome news that the QEW has finally opened its high-occupancy vehicle lanes between Trafalgar Road and Guelph Line (somehow, the definition of “high occupancy” here is “more than one person”). Studies have shown that HOV lanes on Highway 403 and Highway 404 have cut commute times by about 12 minutes and that the average rush hour speed in HOV lanes is higher (100 kilometres per hour, an increase over 60 kilometres per hour), not to mention the environmental benefits of carpooling. Of course, the people who will be most relieved with this development are those drivers who have endured three years of construction along the QEW so that the HOVs could go in.